1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to lawn mowing machines, and more particularly to a combination mower and trimmer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lawn mowers of the zero-turn radius (ZTR) type are widely used for mowing lawns of large areas. Examples are parks, golf courses, cemeteries and estates. The ZTR mowers are particularly effective because of their ability to move around obstacles on the lawn. Because of the nature of the blades and decks of ZTR mowers, they are unable to move close enough to an object to trim the lawn around it. Therefore, where trimming is desired, and that is usually the case, a separate trimming machine must be used. It can be either a portable one carried by the lawn keeper or it can be one mounted on wheels and either self-propelled, or pushed by the lawn keeper.
Certainly trimmer attachments have been invented by others for mounting on mower decks and an example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,566 issued Nov. 19, 1991 to Gates and which discloses a flexible line trimmer attachment for a tractor-driven mower deck. It is a relatively large attachment intended for either original equipment or as an attachment to connect with an existing mower deck and use the power system of the tractor for the mowing deck. It uses a boom which may be lifted out of the way by power assist, when not in use. So does an arrangement mounted on a skid loader type vehicle as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,067 to Brown. A walk-behind string/mower and trimmer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,613, and a walk-behind mower with a string trimmer attachment is shown in U.S Pat. No. 5,159,803. A bracket mountable to a garden tractor for supporting a normally hand-carried string trimmer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,532. A U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,862 discloses a saucer-like disc with a convex bottom hub on a string trimmer head. A three hub trimmer assembly to be towed behind a lawn tractor or mower is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,824. A walk-behind power mower, with rotor-mounted cutting filaments or strings instead of a blade, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,693.
While the foregoing references deal with the subjects of mowing and/or trimming grass, they are not useful with a ZTR mower, considering the ability of such mowers to turn in a spot and run in reverse as well as in a forward direction. The present invention is addressed to the need for convenient and quick mowing and trimming with a ZTR machine and without the need for the hydraulic system of the mower to support the trimming function.
According to the illustrated and preferred embodiment of the present invention, a hydraulic pump is mounted to the mower deck of a powered lawn mowing machine and, through a coupling controllable from the machine operator""s location, is coupled to a mowing cutter driver on the deck to receive power when the cutter is operating. A trimmer is mounted to a bracket mounted to the mowing machine and has a hydraulic motor coupled to it to drive the trimmer. Hydraulic oil storage may be in a front-mounted tank serving both for oil storage, as a mounting bracket for an adjustable trimmer-mounting arm, and as a front bumper for the machine. Hydraulic power is supplied from the pump to the trimmer motor when the controllable coupling is engaged by the machine operator.